who was the better WR?

[schroomytunes]

Simple to ask, who do you think was a better Bengal?

1) Chad Johnson

2) AJ Green

[schroomytunes]

I voted Chad, as he was so good for so long and made our offense so explosive!!

[TecmoBengals]

I voted for Chad.

Games
Chad - 151
AJ -127

Receiving Yards
Chad - 10,783
AJ - 9,430

TDs
Chad - 66
AJ - 65

Receptions
Chad - 751
AJ - 649

Stats: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cin/career-receiving.htm

Both are Bengals all-time greats and fun to watch, but Chad made watching the Bengals fun again after a long woeful drought during the '90s.

[QueenCity]

The answer is Chad Johnson..

However I think AJ Green had the lesser QB plus injuries hampered him the last couple years.

[Wes Mantooth]

Chad, and I don't think it's really even a debate. I think people forget just how elite Chad Johnson was during his prime. He lead the conference in receiving 3 straight years which set an NFL record.

Take a look at his yardage rankings during this stretch of 5 years:

2003 - 4th
2004 - 6th
2005 - 3rd
2006 - 1st
2007 - 3rd

Now take a look at AJ Green's yardage ranks during his best stretch of 5 years:

2011 - 17th
2012 - 10th
2013 - 5th
2014 - 20th
2015 - 8th

Chad Johnson, without a doubt, was the better receiver during his era than AJ Green was in his. Despite playing a decade earlier, when the passing game was entirely different, Chad Johnson has more yards and TD's than AJ Green.

And we haven't gotten to the the fact that the Steelers and Ravens teams Chad faced off against made their counterparts during the AJ Green years look relatively tame. Chad went up against the in their primes Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs monster, historic defenses. He went up against the in their prime Troy Polumalu and James Harrison Dick Lebeua lead Steelers defensives.

AJ Green had a fantastic career. I'm not trying to diminish that. And I know he missed a lot of games and he could have put up more numbers had he not. But the numbers are right there. What Chad did in his era was on an entirely different level than what AJ did in his.

Fwiw, Chad is my favorite Bengal of all time so I'll admit to some bias. But I really do think it is cut and dry. He was an unbelievable talent. And I'll warn people about putting Chase ahead of him early on his career just like I did with AJ. Don't just assume someone will be better because they're current. Surpassing Chad Johnson is going to be a tremendous challenge for anyone.

[impactplaya]

Chad Johnson easily.
Chad would and could liteally take over a game.
A.I had his big moments with hail marys from time to time.
But Chad dominated for more years.
Chad brought swagger.and bravado to a franchise whos moral
Was on life support. I always thought Chad had a bit more
Competitive fire than A.J.
Plus Chad never let CBers get into his head.

[J24]

More Accomplished Chad but based off the eye Test easily AJ. If AJ didn't get injured in the later half of his career he would have destroyed Chads records.

[Wes Mantooth]

(05-16-2021, 01:11 PM)J24 Wrote: 1.) More Accomplished Chad but based off the eye Test easily AJ.

2.) If AJ didn't get injured in the later half of his career he would have destroyed Chads records.

1.) Get your eyes checked.

2.) I've never understood these hypotheticals when they're only applied to one side of a comparison.  So we're going to magically make AJ Green healthy and inflate his statistics.  That's fine, it's a legitmate argument.  But to do that you also have to do the same for Chad. 

Give him the % bumps he'd get playing a decade later in a more passing oriented league and with the rule changes.  Have him not join a last place team that doesn't have Gus Ferrotte and Jon Kitna sharing QB duties.  Make him play against defenses that aren't the 2000's Ravens and Steelers.

What's fair is fair.  You can't go out of your way to make AJ Green's case better while simultaneously ignoring the different things that affected Chad's career.

[Nicomo Cosca]

Child please.

[muskiesfan]

Chad and it's really not that close for me. Chad dominated like AJ never did.

[Wes Mantooth]

I just wanted to point out that Chad started 135 games, while AJ started 125 games. Obviously this is a difference of 10 games, which is only 63% of a single season.

Chad Johnson leads AJ Green by 1,629 yards.

Take from that what you will.

[Murdock2420]

A.J. was a Bengals great and a tremendous WR, but as others have said he joined a team that wasn't totally broken and played in the modern pass happy version of the NFL.

Chad was doing it before it was common place in the NFL, as Wes showed with the numbers for Chad's rankings.

Honestly, I don't know if the Bengals will ever have a WR better then Chad.

[impactplaya]

Chad was also besting better CBs than what AJ faced.

[KillerGoose]

Chad. Others have stated the reasons why I feel this way already, so I won’t repeat their posts.

[Destro]

Chad and it is not close. AJ seemed to be, at one point, like he would be overtaking Chad in every measure, then the wheels came off.

[Capt.Morgan]

(05-16-2021, 12:16 PM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: Chad, and I don't think it's really even a debate.  I think people forget just how elite Chad Johnson was during his prime.  He lead the conference in receiving 3 straight years which set an NFL record.

Take a look at his yardage rankings during this stretch of 5 years:

2003 - 4th
2004 - 6th
2005 - 3rd
2006 - 1st
2007 - 3rd

Now take a look at AJ Green's yardage ranks during his best stretch of 5 years:

2011 - 17th
2012 - 10th
2013 - 5th
2014 - 20th
2015 - 8th

Chad Johnson, without a doubt, was the better receiver during his era than AJ Green was in his.  Despite playing a decade earlier, when the passing game was entirely different, Chad Johnson has more yards and TD's than AJ Green.

And we haven't gotten to the the fact that the Steelers and Ravens teams Chad faced off against made their counterparts during the AJ Green years look relatively tame.  Chad went up against the in their primes Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs monster, historic defenses.  He went up against the in their prime Troy Polumalu and James Harrison Dick Lebeua lead Steelers defensives.

AJ Green had a fantastic career.  I'm not trying to diminish that.  And I know he missed a lot of games and he could have put up more numbers had he not.  But the numbers are right there.  What Chad did in his era was on an entirely different level than what AJ did in his.

Fwiw, Chad is my favorite Bengal of all time so I'll admit to some bias.  But I really do think it is cut and dry.  He was an unbelievable talent.  And I'll warn people about putting Chase ahead of him early on his career just like I did with AJ.  Don't just assume someone will be better because they're current.  Surpassing Chad Johnson is going to be a tremendous challenge for anyone.

This. So. Much. This.
100% spot on.

[Johnny Cupcakes]

I can’t imagine anyone over the age of 25 picking A.J.

In my opinion, you would have had to have just not seen Chad play to think that A.J. was the better of the two.

[SadFaceBengal15]

It’s chad and anyone saying otherwise just wants to hear themselves talk.

[Essex Johnson]

(05-16-2021, 12:16 PM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: Chad, and I don't think it's really even a debate.  I think people forget just how elite Chad Johnson was during his prime.  He lead the conference in receiving 3 straight years which set an NFL record.

Take a look at his yardage rankings during this stretch of 5 years:

2003 - 4th
2004 - 6th
2005 - 3rd
2006 - 1st
2007 - 3rd

Now take a look at AJ Green's yardage ranks during his best stretch of 5 years:

2011 - 17th
2012 - 10th
2013 - 5th
2014 - 20th
2015 - 8th

Chad Johnson, without a doubt, was the better receiver during his era than AJ Green was in his.  Despite playing a decade earlier, when the passing game was entirely different, Chad Johnson has more yards and TD's than AJ Green.

And we haven't gotten to the the fact that the Steelers and Ravens teams Chad faced off against made their counterparts during the AJ Green years look relatively tame.  Chad went up against the in their primes Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs monster, historic defenses.  He went up against the in their prime Troy Polumalu and James Harrison Dick Lebeua lead Steelers defensives.

AJ Green had a fantastic career.  I'm not trying to diminish that.  And I know he missed a lot of games and he could have put up more numbers had he not.  But the numbers are right there.  What Chad did in his era was on an entirely different level than what AJ did in his.

Fwiw, Chad is my favorite Bengal of all time so I'll admit to some bias.  But I really do think it is cut and dry.  He was an unbelievable talent.  And I'll warn people about putting Chase ahead of him early on his career just like I did with AJ.  Don't just assume someone will be better because they're current.  Surpassing Chad Johnson is going to be a tremendous challenge for anyone.

I think your points do point to Chad, but I take exception with the whole passing has changed so much.. since that is relative to teams, so if you go back it was pretty even with Palmer and Dalton when you look at yards and attempts, plus Chad averaged more targets per game than AJ .. the rest of your points make a strong case for Chad.. though I believe what Curtis did in the 70s made his the best WR in Bengals history especially when you start factoring in passing game in 70s to the 2000s to now..

[BFritz21]

Chad was great and he's the choice, but give AJ Carson and AJ would win hands-down because AJ is more balanced.